MOSCOW, AUGUST 26, 2015 — RT’s Middle East Bureau chief and South Africa native Paula Slier has been distinguished with the Women in Leadership award of South African Jewish Achievers Awards, given to the outstanding members of the Jewish community in the Republic of South Africa.

RT’s correspondent Paula Slier, who is well-known for reporting on numerous military conflicts across the world, was distinguished as a Jewish Woman Leader. This category was introduced for the first time this year and is aimed at honoring women who “demonstrated outstanding leadership qualities” in an area of their contribution through their views and activities and “facilitated positive changes in the world.”

Slier is RT’s Middle East bureau chief and has been working at RT since network’s launch in 2005. She has reported from Syria, Libya, Egypt, Palestine, Israel and Ukraine. She has also interviewed many of the world’s key political figures, among them former President of Israel Shimon Peres, President of Lebanon Émile Lahoud, and President of South Africa Jacob Zuma. In 2011, Slier was a finalist of Russia’s TEFI Awards, with her coverage of military conflict in Libya. She was recognized twice (in 2013 and 2015) as one of the most influential women in South Africa, particularly in the areas of Business and Government, by CEO Communications. In September 2014 Slier took part in the working session of the OSCE conference for human rights and democracy that was dedicated to the work of journalists in conflict zones.

In 2015, Paula Slier produced a documentary 119 Lives Unlived in which she investigated the fate of her 119 relatives who had perished Holocaust past. She has also written extensively on the subject of Holocaust.

The South African (Absa) Jewish Achievers Awards honor members of South African Jewish community who have excelled in business and the humanities. The awards are judged by a panel of independent business people, financial journalists, stockbrokers and Absa representatives. Among the past winners are South African artist and director William Kentridge, British musician Johnny Clegg, founder of the Discovery Group Adrian Gore, and many others.

RT is a global news network that broadcasts 24/7 in English, Arabic and Spanish from its studios in Moscow, Washington, DC, and London. It is available to 700 million viewers worldwide. RT is the most watched TV news network on YouTube with more than 2 billion views. RT is the winner of the Monte Carlo TV Festival Awards for best 24-hr broadcast, and the only Russian TV channel to garner three nominations for the prestigious International Emmy Award for News.